UCSD admits record number of students

UC San Diego has admitted a record number of freshman for the fall 2013 term — an 8.1 increase over a year ago — including more low-income students, more students of color and students with higher GPAs.

While the UC system admissions also are a record, up 3.2 percent from 2012, there are fewer California residents and 3,915 more out of state and international students than a year ago.

UC San Diego admitted more students in each of those category.

The admission rate for Californians who applied to UC universities fell from 65.8 percent in 2012 to 60.6 percent due to a surge of applications and 1,356 fewer residents being admitted.

That is the lowest rate since 2009, a number driven by funding concerns, said Michael Treviño, UC’s director of undergraduate admissions. UC has stepped up its efforts to recruit nonresident students. They pay about $23,000 more in tuition and fees than residents.

“The number of California residents we admit is driven by how much funding we have from the state,” he said.

UC San Diego admitted 24,792 freshmen to the university, including 1,050 more California residents than last fall, 621 more international students and 162 from other states.

They have until May 1 to say whether they will attend the school.

Because applicants from outside California traditionally decline UCSD admission offers at a higher rate than Californians, officials expect total campus enrollment of nonresidents to remain at 12 percent in fall 2013, said university spokeswoman Christine Clark.

UC San Diego admitted 36.8 percent of those who applied.

“The makeup of this year’s new freshmen represents one of UC San Diego’s most ethnically, geographically and socioeconomically diverse classes to date,” Mae Brown, UC San Diego’s assistant vice chancellor of admissions, said in a statement.

Compared to a year ago, officials said they admitted 8.6 percent more low-income students and 20.2 percent more students who are the first in their family to attend college. Virtually all ethnic groups experienced increases, with the largest among Mexican Americans (17.5 percent) and African Americans (12.5 percent).

That reflects the campus’s push to providing access and opportunity to students from diverse backgrounds. UC San Diego’s undergraduate population in the fall of 2011 included 2 percent African American, 10 percent Mexican American, 23 percent Caucasian and 44 percent Asian.

The average high school GPA for the incoming freshmen was 4.11, up from 4.07 last year.

Of the students who were admitted for the fall of 2013, more than 52 percent were female. The most popular majors chosen were biology, economics, electrical and computer engineering, chemistry and math.

“The academic accomplishments of this year’s admitted class are incredibly impressive,” UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla said in a statement.

UC officials stressed that the numbers released Thursday were preliminary and will change as students finalize their decisions.

Under the California Master Plan, students in the top 9 percent of the state or in their local high school qualify for guaranteed admission and will be offered a spot at one of the campuses, Treviño said.

He said more than 10,000 students who did not get into their top choice universities have been placed in a referral pool and will be offered a spot at another, less-selective UC campus, such as UC Merced.